Improvement in light road-vehicles



W. S. CLARK.

LIGHT ROAD VEHICLE.

.No.171,994. V Patented Jan.11,-1876.

KFEI'ERS. PNOTU LITHOGRAPHEE WASHINGYON D C,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM S. CLARK, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES M. QUINBY, ISAAC S. AYRES, AND JOHN H. JEIHSON, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT my LIGHT ROAD-VEHICLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 171,994, dated January 11, 1876; application filed November 19, 1875.

,To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. CLARK, of the city of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Light Road Wagons or Vehicles and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates more particularly to that class of light road wagons or vehicles which have heretofore been provided with wooden side bars running lengthwise of the carriage, and upon which the body is supported. These side bars are sometimes clipped or otherwise secured upon springs which extend from the front to the back of the carriage, and are coupled to the ordinary halfelliptic crosssprings. In other. cases two half-elliptic cross-springs are coupled to the side barsin addition to those at the ends with the convex sides upward, the body resting upon bars secured to said cross-springs.

There are still other cases in which the side barsin addition to being coupled at the ends vto the ordinary half -ellipt ic crosssprings-are united by a circular combination spring.

These devices are all more or less objectionable, as the wooden side bars, however they may be adjusted, impart to the vehicle a stiffness of motion, very uncomfortable and annoying to the occupant, and which cannot be entirely overcome even by the combination of springs with them; besides the'latter greatly increases the expense of construction without adding to the beauty of the carriage, while the full elliptic springs, though they may ride easier, yet the body must necessarily be more elevated, and the springs naturally and very soon surge forward, and more especially so when a horse pulls hard upon the bit, there by impairing the beauty and symmetry of the vehicle.

In other instances spring bars or plates, extending outside the body and connected to the cross-springs, have been substituted for the side bars, but are expensive to manufacture and repair, and their use is attended with little or no advantage.

My object in this invention is to combine, as far as possible, all the advantages of the ordinary side bar, half-elliptic, and full elliptic springs, and overcome all their disadvantages, which I accomplish by a certain combination of springs, by means of which the wooden side bars and continuous spring-plates are entirely dispensed with, the cost of construction reduced, and the vehicle made to ride as easy as if provided with the most approved full elliptic springs, and at the same time the body hung as low as when the wooden side bars and halt elliptic springs are used.

The accompany drawing fully illustrates the nature of my invention, in which Figure 1 is a side view; Fig. 2, an end view; and Fig. 3 an inverted plan view, of

a vehicle combining and illustrating my im provements.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

My invention consists in the combination, with the body A and bed pieces or supports B, of the four independent springs C, each bolted directly to the under side, projecting from the back and front-ends of the body,

and the two half-elliptic cross-sprin gs D, their ends being coupled by shackles or other suitable device, all as shown and indicated in the drawing.

The four springs C are secured, as will be observed, directly to the body A, thereby dispensing entirely with the ordinary wooden side bars heretofore in use, avoiding the necessity of using long bars of tempered steel in the manufacture of the springs, simplifying the whole construction of the spring-support, and reducing the expense of the vehicle. It will also be seen that by bolting the springs directly to the bottom, instead of extending them along the sides of the body, the turning of the vehicle is facilitated, as the wheel can end. of one of the cross-springs, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own invention, I aflix hereto my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM S. CLARK. Witnesses:

OLIVER DRAKE, J. G. TUNBRIDGE. 

